Photo By Sgt. LaToya Nemes | A squad of soldiers with the 502nd Military Intelligence Battalion detain two...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS MCCHORD, Wash. - The 502nd Military Intelligence Battalion returned from a deployment to Afghanistan a few months ago, and they’re back training and preparing for the next one scheduled for 2014.
During the Sentinel Sage field training exercise, soldiers throughout the battalion rotated to the field from Aug. 5-17, giving teams enough time to train, conduct an after action review and retrain if needed.
Operational controllers took notes and coached the soldiers as they faced multiple tactical situations. Squad leaders were expected to lead their troops, make decisions with minimal support from their headquarters and execute their mission.
“This is all about leader training,” said Maj. Jeremiah Pray, 502nd MIB S-3.
He said noncommissioned officers shouldn’t be the only ones who lead, but all soldiers should be able to if they’re put in that position.
“The objective of Sentinel Sage is to prepare … soldiers to seamlessly integrate with any maneuver force,” said Pray. “We recognize that soldiers' skills and tactical skills are universal no matter what environment they go to … they will have to know the basics.”
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nathan Watkins, a signals intelligence technician with the 502nd, played the role of Wali Marafi, a chief of police.
In one scenario, a squad set out to visit Marafi at his home in a small village named Aziz Abad to collect intelligence on a high value target individual. When they arrived to Marafi’s home, they received small arms fire from the enemy. They decided to return fire, secure Marafi and the village.
“Many of these soldiers are new to the Army or have never deployed,” said Watkins. “We’re not here to trip them up but here to coach them.”
The primary goal is to get the soldiers to learn their lesson when things go wrong, Watkins added.
“It’s better to make the mistakes during training than make them while deployed,” he said.
Pray said they want soldiers to be able to adapt in a harsh environment.
During the objectives, the teams plan tactically not knowing what obstacles they might face. Each objective led them to the final task of detaining the high-value target individual.
“They are fatigued, they’ve been in the wood line for the past two days and they have their last objective," said Pray. “This is where they need to step it up.”
The exercise is focused on 80 percent tactical soldier skills and 20 percent intelligence skills he said. The intelligence focused training is scheduled for later in the year.
Staff Sgt. Yiyi Chen, a team leader for his squad had to make many decisions to meet each objective and keep his team safe.
“NCOs [noncommissioned officers] have to teach lower enlisted Soldiers to take our place,” he said. “You have to have enough knowledge as an NCO to show soldiers how to lead.”
Lt. Col. Justin Haynes, 502nd battalion’s commander, said there is a benefit of soldiers seeing their leaders go through the decision making process.
“When they’re put in that position, they’ve seen it at least once or twice before and the entire team comes together to meet the objective,” said Haynes.
“When the time comes for the next stage of training on our road to deployment, these teams will be ready to integrate with any force,” he said. “These soldiers will be ready to go.”
| Date Taken: | 08.13.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2013 18:40 |
| Story ID: | 111979 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 385 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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